


In Which Bud Causes Trouble... As Usual

by phoenixianCrystallist



Series: The Wind Sings of a Journey [1]
Category: Seiken Densetsu: Legend of Mana
Genre: Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Tentacle Monsters, Tumblr Prompt, not the fun kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22864030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixianCrystallist/pseuds/phoenixianCrystallist
Summary: Sayara could never regret taking in her apprentices, but Bud sure did make her consider it sometimes.
Relationships: Bud (Legend of Mana) & Corona | Lisa (Legend of Mana), Bud (Legend of Mana) & Hero | Heroine (Legend of Mana), Corona | Lisa (Legend of Mana) & Hero | Heroine (Legend of Mana)
Series: The Wind Sings of a Journey [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964551
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	In Which Bud Causes Trouble... As Usual

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm (slowly) working on a Legend of Mana re-write, because that's a thing I like to do. In the meantime, I have a few drabbles and short stories and whatnot just to experiment with things. Characters, relationships, settings, "okay but what if" scenarios. Lots of prompts get filled, including this one:
> 
> http://witterprompts.tumblr.com/post/183544890156

"Nothing I like coming home to more than, um, whatever that is on my rug." The thing let out a horrifying and yet somehow pitiful gurgle. Its appendages flopped around, useless for anything more than drawing trails of slime along the floor. "Does..." The gurgle it gave was louder this time, filled with something that approximated a voice. Sayara blinked at it, her eyebrows drawn into a frown. It blinked back. A lot. "Does it have six eyes?"

"Yes! Well, in this universe it does. I'm not sure where the rest of them are."

"That is not a reassuring statement, Bud."

Lisa poked the abomination with the business end of her broom, and made a face at the ribbon of slime it formed when she pulled away. "Oh, _gross._ " The thing burbled once again, limbs flailing and eyes rolling as it tried to find the source of the poke. The wet squelching sounds it made as the tentacles slapped the ground made Sayara's gut try to rebel. "Like, Bud, this is seriously full of ick. Make it go away."

"Why would I do that?" Bud asked. His little face lit up with glee, and he flailed his arms as he continued. "This is an unknown life form from an alternate dimension! It's so cool!"

"It's making a mess of my living room," Sayara corrected. "And it smells like eggs. Worse, it smells like egg farts."

"Does it?" Bud rubbed at his chin with one hand. He stared up at Sayara, a look of intense scrutiny on his face. Sayara ignored him in favor of stepping back out of the way of lashing slime limbs. "It smells like sawdust and mildew to me."

"It _smells_ nasty," Lisa said. "It doesn't matter what kind of nasty, it's nasty, and it _has_ to go."

"I agree," Sayara said as she gripped the hilt of her sword. It was still sheathed at her back, but both of the kids knew she could have it out in a blink. "Either you put it back or I end it, Bud."

"B-but I don't know how!" Bud protested, arms flailing once again. "I wasn't trying to summon it! I was trying to look into another world!"

"Ugh, you are _so_ annoying!" Lisa griped, and swatted the monster with her broom. It retaliated by knocking her legs out from under her with one swipe of its tentacle.

"Don't hurt it, Lisa!" Bud yelped. "It's just a baby!" The thing gurgled in earnest this time, tentacles whipped around like the fists of an enraged Malboro. It had gone from confused and exploratory to aggressive, and while Sayara didn't exactly blame it considering Lisa's attack, she still wanted it out of her living room. Even better, out of her house. She started to draw her sword, when Bud's words registered.

"It's just a _what?_ " she snapped as she felt her face go pale.

"It's a baby! It hatched _yesterday!_ "

Time crawled to a halt as Sayara processed that statement. She stared at the thing—apparently nothing more than a hatchling—as only one thought filled her mind.

"Where's the mom?"

When a tentacle as thick around as her ribcage circled her waist, Sayara got her answer. She yelped as she was yanked backwards and out her front door. Her captor gave her no time to react, simply flung her to the side where she landed, hard, on her shoulder. Before she could stand, the new creature roared, a horrible sound unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was dissonance incarnate, so horribly anathema to the world of Fa'Diel that Sayara found herself retching before the roar ended.

"Sayara!" Lisa called from within the house, her voice higher pitched than usual. "I think we found the mom!"

Sayara groaned and pushed herself to her feet. She unsheathed her blade and advanced on the mother monster, slowly so as not to make a noise to attract its attention. Currently the thing was focused on her house, tentacles writhing in the open door as it reached in. Before Sayara could get close enough to do anything, the tentacles retreated. It held its baby in a cradle of limbs, and Bud's statement about not being sure where the rest of the eyes were made sense. She couldn't comprehend the number of eyes the thing had, some of them on stalks, others where suckers would be on any normal tentacle, others at the tips. The mother was less comprehensible; Sayara wasn't sure where the eyes ended and the tentacles began, let alone where the tentacles ended and the eyes began. Maybe they weren't even eyes. They could have been teeth. Or eggs. Or tumors. Were those even tentacles? They could have been hair, or vines, or muscle fibers. They twisted in on each other in a way that was both entrancing and nauseating.

By the time Sayara realized she couldn't look away, the thing had vanished. While her mind was still trying to comprehend what she was seeing, the monstrosity faded from existence like room temperature pudding slipping through a strainer. Sayara's hand was limp at her side, her blade all but forgotten in the dirt. Her knees felt bruised from where they had struck the ground, and she didn't remember dropping to them. She blinked once, twice, then pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"Well," she said, mostly just to see if language still worked. It did. "That happened." She picked her sword up from where it had fallen and sheathed it as she returned to the house. Considering the size of the monster, Sayara was pleasantly surprised to find no damage had been done to her door, or the overall structure of the house. It was, however, covered in slime. Slime that smelled like egg farts.

Bud and Lisa were still stuck in the trance the monster invoked when she walked in. Sayara debated leaving Bud like that for a bit to see if he would learn a lesson this time, but knew in her gut that she had a better chance of breaking the sky open. Still, it was Lisa she shook out of the trance first. It didn't take much, just a hand on the girl's shoulder. Lisa blinked, and gasped, and landed promptly on her rump as she shook. Sayara turned to Bud now, and reached out one hand to flick him in the forehead. Bud blinked as well, and he stared up at Sayara with wide eyes.

"That," he said, voice tremulous and shaking, "was... _so cool!_ " His face split into the most enormous grin Sayara had seen since he'd thought she was a powerful sorcerer. Just like then, she dashed his hopes and dreams with a dose of harsh reality.

"I'm glad you think so," Sayara told him, "because you get to clean up the mess."

"What _was_ that thing?" Lisa asked. Her voice was slurred, and Sayara knelt in front of her. Lisa's eyes were not focusing. She had splotches of pink on her face, but was otherwise pale. Her head wavered from side to side, which Sayara stopped with a hand on the girl's forehead. It was hot.

"It was a—"

"Not now, Bud," Sayara said in that low, calm, commanding voice that they actually listened to. Bud clapped one hand over his mouth. He knew better than to argue with Sayara when she took that tone, largely because it meant something was seriously wrong. The one time he hadn't, he'd almost been eaten. Nothing like a near death experience to teach a lesson. "Come over here, check your sister. Tell me what symptoms you see."

Bud was at her side right away, and peered at Lisa's face. He hummed as he studied her, head tilting to one side or the other on occasion.

"She has a fever, and fever spots," he said. Sayara nodded; that matched with what she saw and felt. Good; the reality warping of the monster didn't affect this. "Delirious, too, I think. Probably a reaction to the Eldritch Warp. She'll be fine with some bed rest and water."

"Good. Guess what you get to do."

"Erm... fetch the water?"

"Good lad," Sayara said as she reached out to ruffle his hair. She gave him a smile, mostly to reassure him that she thought his sister was going to be okay. While she wasn't sure, she preferred to give her apprentices a sense of hope. She found things worked out better when they believed they could. So, she gathered Lisa into her arms while Bud scampered off to the kitchen, and deposited the little elf witch into her bed.

"How are you feeling, Lisa?" she asked as she tucked Lisa in.

"Icky," Lisa complained. "Like that one time we ate bad mushrooms, but, like, way worse."

Sayara chuckled, and smoothed Lisa's hair back from her forehead. She was starting to sweat, and Sayara heard her teeth rattling a little as she shivered.

"Well, just like last time, it's probably going to get worse before it gets better," she warned. Lisa whined a long, drawn-out "no" that had Sayara chuckling again. Bud came trotting up the stairs with a pitcher of cool, clean water that only sloshed a little bit with his haste. He placed the pitcher on Lisa's bedside table, and produced a glass from one of the many pockets he'd added to his robes. Together, he and Sayara spent the rest of the day and a good chunk of the night tending to Lisa's illness.


End file.
